The present invention relates to a video recording/reproducing apparatus.
Recently, great developments have been attained in the field of video recording media which include the laser disk the video compact disk, (VCD) and the filmless photography (still video) as well as conventional magnetic tape and video cassettes. The advent of floppy disk type video recording media will occur in the near future.
Because of such developments in video recording media, the market for pre-recorded media is gradually spreading and consists of various programs such as movies or video games recorded on pre-packaged video recording media. Consequently, we can enjoy the various programs at home.
However, programs recorded on the programmed media range from programs which the whole family can enjoy, to programs unsuitable for children as well as programs which even some adults would find objectionable.
Besides, due to the wide spread availabilty of portable video recorders such as a camcorder, many ordinary people record programs which might include a program they do not want to be viewed freely.
Therefore, inventions employing a so-called security system for limiting a user's access to a video record/playback apparatus have been disclosed. However, they are inconvenient because they use either a hardware approach to block an operational panel, a deck or the power line of the apparatus, or a software approach requiring designation of a secret access number which renders the apparatus un-operational if an entered number does not match a previously stored number. Meanwhile, even if an unauthorized user's access to the apparatus is somehow denied, the unauthorized user could get access to another apparatus having no security system, and thus reproduce the program. Moreover, the labeling information itself, which appears on the outer jacket of a recording medium, may be also considered private.